


Sea Dragon In

by NiteWrighter



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, can be interpreted as platonic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 13:54:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8448646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NiteWrighter/pseuds/NiteWrighter
Summary: Theon and Jeyne sing along to dumb songs on the radio and go somewhere safe and angst and eat pizza.I wrote this back in 2014 but now i'm finally posting it here!





	

Theon drummed seven fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes flicked from the road to Jeyne sinking into the passenger seat before he turned his attention back to the windshield. The shitty little black 1998 Volvo sedan rattled with the chains on its tires as the windshield wipers shoved snow out of the way. Maybe if he wasn’t so tired he would have felt something like elation. They had been driving for a night and a day, only taking breaks for gas and so Theon could rest his eyes and drive more. There were times on longer, emptier stretches of road when Jeyne took the wheel, though Theon had been driving for 4 hours straight since the snowstorm hit. It was only 7 but it felt much later for some reason. For the first hour since they hit the road, Jeyne had been silent, stiff, eyes wide and hands shaking. For the second through fifth hour she cried. For the sixth through 9th hour she slept. For the twelfth through fifteenth hour she cried some more. Had an odd 30-minute-spell where she was between sobs and giggles, slept for another 2 hours, and had basically been phasing from crying to sleeping to sitting small and stone-faced in the seat beside him. She hadn’t said a lot. Neither of them could really say anything. What could they say? “So! Now that we’re no longer getting mentally, sexually, and physically abused by that fucking bastard, what do you want to talk about?” 

They passed a sign for a town; Nessville, 35 miles. “Hey!” Theon reached over and gave Jeyne’s shoulder a little push. “Nessville!” She blinked at him a few times. “Nessville,” Theon said again. Jeyne looked like she was honestly trying her hardest to remember the significance of Nessville. “The place Asha told us to go,” Theon said finally.

“Oh—Oh!” Jeyne’s face lit up a little, “The hotel?”

“Yeah. Beds, showers, weird smells, lights up like the night sky if you shine a blacklight in it. We should celebrate.”

“Celebrate?”

“Yeah turn the radio on. Town means radio towers right?”

“Okay!” Jeyne seemed oddly a little excited about that idea. She turned the radio on. There were a few seconds of wading through static before the stations started coming in, crackly, then clear.

_“I hate these blurred lines…I know you want it—“_

“No.” They both said at once and Jeyne changed the station.

_“Sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips exci—”_

“No,” they both said again and Theon changed the channel.

“You’re listening to KDRG Oldies! Number one Oldies station for Sea Dragon Point!”

“Okay we should be safe here,” said Theon as some piano started playing. Then Sinatra started singing.

_“I’ve got you…under my skin…”_

“Fucking—,” Theon said, cutting himself off. He was about to break off into some string of profanities but shoved the sick feeling into the pit of his gut. He could hear Jeyne snickering a little. It was funny in a horribly bitter way. He changed the channel again to some weird poppy horn chorus he couldn’t quite place ending with ‘Hey!’

“Oh! Keep it here!” Jeyne pushed his hand away from the radio.

“What–?” Theon started to say but Jeyne was already singing along.

 _“I don’t like walking alone in this cold and empty house…_ ” she looked over to Theon as a male singer took over, grinning expectantly at him. “You’re supposed to sing.”

“What?”

“You sing the boy parts and I’ll sing— _The stairs creak as I sleep it’s keeping me awake,_ ” She cut herself off in the middle of speaking to sing the female vocals, and looked over at him.

“I don’t know the lyrics,” said Theon.

“Yes you d— _Some days I can’t even dress myself…_ ”

“ _It’s killing me to see you this way,_ ” Theon sang, cringing at the flatness of his own voice but Jeyne’s face lit up.

 _“’Cuz though the truth may vary, this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore,_ ” they both sang.

“I _knew_ it,” Jeyne said as the horns cut in again.

“You and Sansa had this song playing 80 times a day back in Winterfell. _Everyone_ knows it.”

He sang along with the stupid little hokey song and it was the most he had seen Jeyne smile in months and he felt like the lyrics were hitting a little too close to home for his liking—well..not home, but close to something he didn’t want to think about, but it felt like it was the best they would get for now.

—

Nessville was depressingly small. There was a smattering of houses, a few gas stations, a grocery store, barbershop which Theon made a mental note to visit before they took off for the coast the next day, a town hall and a high school that may have been pretty if any one had cared to keep up appearances, and finally, a motel on the other side of town with a buzzing dirty white and green sign featuring a flickering sea serpent and badly-kerned hospital-scrub-green letters that read out, “Sea Dragon In” (The second “n” was out.) The snow was still coming down and Jeyne had thrown her boots in the backseat.

“Stay in the car,” said Theon, parking and stepping out.

“You’ll come back, right?” Jeyne said, leaning over her seat at him. He stopped and looked back at her.

Theon paused, then tossed the keys to her. “If I don’t, you know how to drive.”

She did that thing where her eyes went big and her mouth went tight and Theon sighed and was saying, “I’m coming back. Just—keep the heat on and listen to the radio.” Jeyne nodded and the car door slammed shut.

The receptionist was wearing his thumbs away on a smartphone when the little bell on the door rang and Theon walked in.

“We’ve got vacancies,” he muttered, not looking up. “Smoking or non-smok—”

“My sister arranged for a room for me,” said Theon. The receptionist glanced up.

“Ash—”

“Yeah I know. Proof of I.D.?”

Theon pulled both his hands out of the front pocket of his hoodie and held them up, spreading what fingers he had left. He used to wince at the sight of them, but after hours of staring at them on the steering wheel had gotten him more than used to them.

“Holy shit—” the concierge’s face jerked up sharply from his smartphone at the sight of Theon’s hand. Gently he started lifting his smartphone.

“If you snapchat this shit I’ll only need seven fingers to shove that fucking phone down your throat,” said Theon. The concierge lowered his phone.

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah, we’ve established that.”

“She wasn’t kidding.”

“No of course she was fucking kidding. ‘Hey buddy I need you to reserve a room for my brother. He only has seven fingers ha ha ha just kidding.’”

“Alright, alright,” The concierge fumbled beneath his desk and tossed Theon a key, “Only for the night. Clear out before housekeeping pops in.”

–

It was your typical hotel room of simultaneous passable and dubious cleanliness. Not that Theon cared. A bed was a bed. A bed was not the softest corner of floor he could curl up on. A bed had springs and sheets. Jeyne was clutching her grubby duffle bag that was half the size of her behind him and he took it from her as she moved into the room. She checked the closets and under the beds and the bathroom before finally sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“Well?” Theon said looking around.

“It’s good.” Jeyne said, picking up a TV remote like she could hardly recognize it.

“Cool. You want first dibs for shower?”

“What?” Jeyne glanced up, “But you…” she paused. He knew she nearly said, ‘You need it a lot more than I do.’ He knew it. She had been putting up with his stink in that shitty little sedan for hours on end. She was polite about it sure, but he knew he stunk.

“Look, however long you’re going to take in that shower, I assure you, I’m probably going to take longer. I don’t want to waste all the hot water.”

Jeyne blinked. “Do you think I—? Do I smell?”

“No—what? You smell great—I mean there’s B.O. sure but it’s like—it’s _girl_ B.O. It’s nice—well _I_ think it’s nice—Not that it’s strong or—” Jeyne had stood up and quickly shuffled to the bathroom and shut the door behind her with a click of the lock. “Well Theon Greyjoy you may have lost a cock, two balls, three fingers, and four toes, but you certainly haven’t lost your touch with the ladies,” Theon stood stewing in his own stink as he hear the shower in the bathroom turn on, then pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes and muttered, “Fuck me…”

The shower was still running after twenty minutes when Theon’s stomach growled. The shower was still running when he went through the contents of the duffle and found an extra 20 in one of his pockets. The shower was still running as he rifled through the drawers and found one of those coupon books for local restaurants. The shower was still running when he was dialing the number. He figured the money was for both of them. Jeyne might as well pick the toppings on half the pizza. The pizzeria was still on the line when Theon knocked on the door to the bathroom. “Hey—What do you want on your pizza?” No response. Only the sound of running water. He knocked on the door again. “Poole—what do you want on your pizza?” No response. “Poole—” He knocked again, “Jeyne!” No response, “Fuck…” he muttered.

“So that’s half anchovies and half what sir?” the voice crackled over his phone.

“Cheese.” Said Theon.

“All right it’ll be right over in thirty minutes or—” Theon hung up the phone.

“Poole—” he knocked on the door again, “Come on, Jeyne. Say something. Jeyne—It’s me. It’s safe—you’re safe—you’re—” Theon could only hear the sound of running water. He pressed his palms to his forehead. “Fuck me…” he banged on the door again, “You think this is fucking funny, Poole? I—–Jeyne! Just—just say something—let me know you’re—fuck…” Theon paced over to the duffle and rifled through it. He pulled out a pocket knife he had grabbed out of Ramsay’s house. A plain thing, nothing he would miss. _Yeah this is fucking brilliant burst through the locked door with a knife that’s not going to freak her out at all,_ he thought to himself, pausing over the knife, but then another voice ran through his head, _What if she slipped? What if she found a razor? What if—_ Theon was already at the door with the knife in hand. “Jeyne—…” he said one last time, “Just say something. Just let me know you’re still—aw fuck it—” Theon started jamming his knife where the lock slipped between door and doorway and throwing his weight against the door. The hotel was pretty shitty and the lock gave way to the right leverage. It was a trick Theon remembered Uncle Euron had shown him a long time ago. Theon burst into the bathroom and nearly slipped and fell for all the steam and dampness all around. The shower was completely fogged up but Theon could see a dark blob on top of a pink blob through the fogged up glass slumped toward the bottom of the shower.

“Jeyne—“ he opened the door to the shower stall and Jeyne shrieked and scrambled against the other side of the shower stall, cringing inward and rolling up into a tighter ball clinging to the tiles. There was no blood. No razor. Theon sighed with relief and slumped a shoulder against the fogged up glass, droplets of water hitting his other shoulder.

“What are you doing?” Jeyne peeked up through thick veins of wet dark hair strewn across her pink face and Theon stumbled back from the shower door, turning around.

“I’m sorry–” he said, his back to her, “I just—you didn’t say anything—you weren’t saying anything and I—I—you scared the shit out of me, Poole! Why didn’t you say something?! All you had to do was say, ‘hi’ or ‘pepperoni’ or something and—” He turned around without thinking and he saw her eyes all big and dark and bloodshot. She hugged her knees and bowed her head against them and a few sobs escaped her. He could barely hear her for all the sounds of running water, and he understood. “Oh…” he said quietly, “Was it me?” he asked, “Was it the B.O. comment because I did mean it as a compliment but—”

“No…” said Jeyne, “I was just…I’m just…I didn’t want to cry in front of you. I was doing so well and…” her voice collapsed into blubbering and Theon let out a half chuckle before her head jerked up again and she was shouting, “I hate this! I hate this! I hate crying! I want to stop! I want it to stop! I’m trying _so hard,_ Theon.”

“I know,” said Theon, sitting down on top of the toilet, “I’m glad you’re trying so hard. But–” _I am going to regret this later_ , “You don’t need to worry about crying in front of me. You just do whatever you need to, okay?”

“You hate crying,” her voice shuddered a little.

“Yeah but after everything I’ve gone through it’s not as much of a bother as you think it is,” said Theon.

Jeyne sniffled and they were quiet awhile. “Why were you scared?” she looked up at him.

“Haven’t you heard? I’m Theon Turncloak. Biggest coward in Wester—”

“Theon, why did I scare you?”

“You weren’t saying anything and I—I thought—I got worried—”

“You’re not a baby, Theon,” she half sobbed and half laughed, “If you don’t see me that doesn’t mean I’ve gone out of existence for you—”

“It wasn’t that! I was afraid that maybe you found some way to—” Theon’s voice started raising but he cut himself off mid-sentence when he saw the look on her face, then he slumped forward and ran his hands through his damp white hair.

“You thought I—” Jeyne started to say.

“I didn’t know, if you had just said something—” Theon sighed, “I know it’s…I know it’s fucked up, okay? But I guess it’s only fitting since we’re fucked up, right? We’re fucked up and…tired…” the word stuck with him, “I’m tired,” he said, “…you’re tired. We’ve been running so long and we don’t know how much farther it is to run and we’re trying so hard and…so fucking tired.”

“I am tired,” Jeyne said quietly. Theon pursed his lips. “But,” Jeyne looked up, “But I’m not going to leave you,” a sob shook the word ‘leave,’ “I never would. Unless—unless you’d want—”

“No,” Theon said firmly, “Never. I’d never want that.”

Jeyne hugged her knees. “Thanks…” she said quietly.

“I need you,” said Theon.

“I need _you,_ ” Jeyne said.

“Well that settles it then. We’d better not lose each other,” said Theon, standing up. He stepped into the shower.

“Theon what are you—”

“It’s fine. I stink.”

“But your clothes—”

“They stink too,” said Theon, sitting down next to Jeyne and putting an arm over her shoulders while she hugged her knees and leaned her head on his shoulder. Theon felt his shirt and jeans get sopping wet and heavy as lukewarm water showered down on them both. They sat there for a while, watching steam drift out the door and droplets fall from the ceiling.

Theon wasn’t sure how much time had passed but his hearing was sharp enough for him to hear a knock on the door to the hotel room. Jeyne flinched and gasped.

“I got it,” said Theon, getting up.

–

The deliveryman gave Theon a bit of a withering look as the sopping wet white-haired seven-fingered man answered the door, but Theon assumed he probably wasn’t the weirdest man the deliveryman had ever given a pizza to, because he left without much of a word after receiving his payment. He set down the box on the little table near the window and noticed the hotel room had gone oddly quiet. He heard shuffling and glanced over to see Jeyne pulling on a pair of baggy sweatpants and an even baggier Citadel U sweatshirt. Every piece of clothing that had come into their possession was practically a circus tent on her. She tied her hair up into one of those frumpy topknots and stepped over and breathed in the steam as Theon opened the pizza box.

“Anchovies?” Jeyne looked down at the pizza.

“What?” said Theon, grabbing a slice and pinching off a string of melted cheese with his finger before taking a bite and beheading the little fish, “Got a problem with anchovies?”

“Never had them,” said Jeyne, “I didn’t know people actually ordered them, like, unironically ordered and ate them.”

“They’re good!” Theon insisted, with a mouthful of pizza, too hungry to let sore teeth slow him down, “Go on, have a slice.”

Jeyne glanced down at the anchovy half of the pizza and picked up a slice and took a bite. She made a valiant attempt at an “Mmm!” sound, while crinkling her brow and trying her best to smile with a full mouth and nodding a little, then immediately shaking her head. Theon snickered. “You don’t have to finish it.”

“Thankth,” Jeyne said, spitting it into a napkin and tossing the napkin in the trash before grabbing a slice of cheese.

“Okay it’s an acquired taste,” said Theon, taking another bite. They both laughed shortly then Theon glanced up at Jeyne. “So…uh…what happened back in the shower…that was …well…like, if you want to talk about it…”

“Would it be okay if we didn’t?” said Jeyne, “Not…not now.”

“Yeah,” said Theon, “Whatever you want.”

“I was thinking we could turn on the TV and eat pizza and pretend to be normal for a little while.”

“Sounds like a plan, Poole,” said Theon.

So they did.


End file.
